[Feature request/Bug] Start playback from beginning if the playhead is at the end.

[quartertone]

Current situtation:

If:

• User initiates track play (click on a track)
  and
• Track progress/playhead is at the end (ie track is finished)

Then:

• If Auto Play is on, the selected track is skipped, and the next track will play.
• If Auto Play is off, the selected track is opened but nothing plays.

Proposal:

If the selected track is "finished", playback should start at the beginning of the selected track.

[huftis]

An upvote from me. I find the current behaviour very confusing (or, I found it confusing, but now that I understand it, I just find it very annoying 😄).

I have auto play enabled and sometimes wish to listen to a track for a second time. But when I select the track, it automatically skips to the next track, and then to the next track after that (if that track was also previously listened to), etc. I have to first long-click on the track, select the ellipsis icon and then select ‘Mark as not started’.

[flackbash]

Yes, I kinda agree, it is a little weird.

Are you proposing this behavior only for when the user explicitly selected a file for playback and pressed play? So if the next file is played via autoplay or maybe even the "next" button and was already completed, that one should not start from the beginning, but should be skipped?
Or are you suggesting a setting that, when activated, makes all completed files replay from the beginning when playback is started - either by explicit selection, autoplay or next/previous button?

[quartertone]

I think it would make sense to apply it to all those situations (ie, your second scenario). In my mind, I think of finished tracks as "not yet started" when viewed from the playhead's perspective.

[huftis]

My two cents worth: If the user explicitly selects an (already played) track from the playlist, it’s always because they want to listen to it again (it’s never because they want to skip it!). But this doesn’t apply to other files in the playlist. So I think the best solution is:

When the users selects a file from the playlist/folder, it should always start playing. If it’s not finished, it should resume playing from the current position (track progress). If it’s never been played or have been played to the end (‘finished’), it should start playing from the beginning. The following tracks (by autoplay or ‘next’ button) should be skipped (or played) as normal, depending on their finished state / current position.

[quartertone]

@huftis That's one way to do it. But I think it depends on your listening preference and content. Imagine the following scenario:

• Audiobook has 5 chapters/tracks
• User plays through tracks 1-4
• User selects track 2, which would start playback from the beginning.

When the playhead reaches the end of chapter 2, it would make most sense to continue on to the start of chapter 3, rather than skipping to chapter 5.

We already have the setting "Replay tracks from beginning when playing next/previous" which I would want to keep, for this reason.
The proposed "Play from beginning if track is finished" setting would be an addition, not a replacement for that setting.

[huftis]

Hmm, I see your point @quartertone. It makes sense for audiobooks and other settings where the tracks have a specific order. (For my use case, I don’t have ordred tracks, as I primarily use AudioAunchor for playing random podcasts episodes from different podcasts, so I wouldn’t want ‘next/previous’ to replay tracks that I have already listened to.)

I was thinking that this feature would not have (or need) a new setting, as it doesn‘t make sense to manually select a specific track to play only for it to be skipped.

But if is implemented, I think it actually could would work well with the ‘Replay tracks from beginning when playing next/previous’ setting. So my revised suggestion is:

1. No new setting.
2. If you manually select a finished track from the playlist/folder, it should always start playing from the beginning. (I.e., it should reset the ‘finished’ status.)
3. When you then press ‘next/previous’ or the track finishes playing (with autoplay enabled), the behaviour depends on the ‘Replay tracks from beginning when playing next/previous’ setting:
   1. If the setting is enabled, the new track should play from the beginning.
   2. If the setting is disabled, use the current behaviour, i.e., play from the current position, skip if the track has already been played, or play from the beginning if the track haven’t been played (or have been manually marked as ‘not played’).

This should work well for both audiobooks and non-ordered tracks, right?

[quartertone]

Perfect, I like it!

Also, I just realized that there is no Next/Previous button in the interface anywhere. Or did I overlook a setting somewhere? (should this be its own issue?)

[flackbash]

@huftis That sounds like a good solution to me too.

@quartertone You can make the forward / backward buttons behave as next / previous buttons in the settings by moving the skip interval sliders all the way to the right.